I have given away many copies of Hackers and Painters and have forwarded many more pdf copies of it (pirated, sorry, but for a good cause) due to exactly the same reason that Gideons place their book in hotel rooms or YW's give away their "literature": I was trying to convert people to his way of objective, no holds barred, minimalist way of thinking/writing. Unfortunately, his approach has been equated by many to the "SV hacker types have an answer to all world's great problems and they're all wrong and naive" school of thought, the belittlement and maligning of which is very much in vogue nowadays.
But these people miss the point. pg is interesting precisely because he was (is?) so different from mainstream SV thinking (compare&contrast sama's writings and his essays, not saying one is better but they are quite different). Read his essay "What You cannot Say" (http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html) as an antidote to current hysterical state of thought, "What You'll Wish You'd Known" (http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html) should be required for all high school students around the world trying to shape their lives.
Hero worship from a founder-wannabe? Perhaps. Read the essays yourself and find out.